Vol. 488 No. 3
24 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will support the maintaining of the greenhouse gas reduction targets agreed by the EU Council prior to the Kyoto conference; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5910/98]
I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 206 and 212 of 17 February 1998. As I explained in that reply, the EU negotiating position in advance of the Kyoto Conference in December 1997 proposed that developing countries parties, individually or jointly, should reduce emission levels for carbon dioxide, CO 2, methane, CH 4, and nitrous oxide, N 2 O, together by at least 7.5 per cent and 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2005 and 2010 respectively. This was not a unilateral commitment and was subject to comparable commitments by other developed countries.
The Kyoto Protocol the the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted on 11 December 1997, sets, inter alia, a legally binding target for the member states of the EU to reduce emissions of a basket of six greenhouse gases — CH 2, CH 4, N 2O, hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs, perfluorocarbons, PFCs, and sulphur hexafluoride, SF 6 — by 8 per cent below 1990 levels in the period 2008-2012. It is intended that the EU will meet the target using provisions in the protocol concerning joint fulfilment and on the basis of agreed internal burden sharing.
In December 1997 the Council of Environment Ministers was advised that the European Commission will present to the Council an analysis of the move from an objective of -15 per cent for three gases to an objective of -8 per cent for the six gases now covered by the protocol so that the effects can be assessed precisely. The analysis will also need to take account of the provisions regarding the use of sinks to absorb CO 2 and other provisions of the protocol. In addition, the Commisison will review its communication Climate Change — The EU Approach for Kyoto, published in October 1997, which concluded "that the (EU) emission reduction targets are technically feasible and economically manageable in the EU only if all industrialised countries make comparable reduction efforts".
